Hogwarts: Age of Destruction
by xOhxSnapx
Summary: What’ll happen when a friendship formed between two long time rivals turns into something more, and how far are they willing to take it? Prequel to Sympathetic Shiver. AU. HD
1. Start of Term

**Rating:** M because of later chapters, mostly due to graphic scenes.  
**Notes:** This is one of the prequels to Sympathetic Shiver. The only characters that I can say are mine will be Kathryn, for she is a spawn of my imagination, and two babies that will make an appearance near the very end of this entire fic, and possibly an Auror. Ignores HBP.  
**Summary:** What'll happen when a friendship between two long time rivals turns into something more, and how far are they willing to take it?

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With the attacks on both Beauxbatons and Durmstrang the flow of students into the Great Hall was massive. The increase of students was greater than Hogwarts had ever seen, and just the task of making it to one table became such a task. Students were bumping into each other, some where even being shoved the wrong way. The term push comes to shove never made more sense then it did at that very moment. Even more students were coming into the Great Hall as more students were just getting off of the carriages from the Hogsmeade Station. The students that were already seated even seemed to be having a hard time as the other made their way around the hall to find their right tables. There was nearly no room to breathe or to move an arm. It was amazing that anyone had eventually sat down. Of course, then more students just piled in.

"I don't believe it," Hermione whispered as she was bumped into the person in front of her. She turned her head down and looked away. She had just lost Harry in the crowd of students, and now she was being drifted over to the Ravenclaw table, stumbling all the way. It was impossible. She would have had better luck just trying to crawl all the way over to the Gryffindor table; of course she had the likely chance of being stepped on if that happened. Hermione gave a sudden yelp of pain as someone stepped on her foot. Oh, the girl couldn't wait to get to her seat. At least then she wouldn't be drifting all the way over the place as she was now. It wasn't long before she was shoved down at the Ravenclaw table. "Oh, this is stupid," she muttered before standing back up, only to be bumped back down. Trying once again, she got up and began nudging her way to the Gryffindor table where she finally took a seat.

Now all that there was left to do was wait and hope that Harry and Ron both made it to the table without being shoved right out the oak doors.

As if that was the problem. Harry found him self elbowing his way around the hall. He had lost Hermione about three minutes into the Great Hall, but it wasn't that much of a problem; they were both headed for the same place. Well, Harry's problem was that he was currently bouncing around near the Slytherin table. He'd just seen Ginny, but didn't hear a word that she said as someone had shouted something in his is ear. Then Harry found himself thrown down onto a seat at the Slytherin table. What a way to start the school year off. He wasn't at that table long before he was up once more and then down once again, this time at the Hufflepuff table. He sat there for a moment talking with Ernie who just jumped at the chance to take a seat at his table. All the commotion in the Great Hall was beginning to give Harry a headache, not to mention that he was getting hungry.

The sixth year Gryffindor took to the floor, slipping under the Hufflepuff table. He crawled around under the table, peaking through open spots on the long bench. Crawling further down under the table Harry wrinkled his nose. At least the floors were cleaned. "Ow, feet, feet!" Harry said, just as someone had kicked him in the leg. There was a few glances under the table just before he moved from under the Hufflepuff table to quickly, and by quickly we mean attempting to run while on all four legs, get under the Gryffindor table. When he had found an open spot he took that as his moment to squirm up and take a seat. As luck would have it, he was seated next to Hermione, and Parvati right across from them. Well, my be it wasn't so lucky. Lavender had just sat down, joining Parvati in a sort of protest. Harry shot a glance at Hermione who just shook her head, looking equally confused.

"….Just say no to ogreicide!"

"Let the ogre's live!"

Hermione coughed loudly into her glass of pumpkin juice and Harry had to stifle his laughter as he began to pile some mashed potatoes onto his plate. After last year, they had both expected Parvati to get into something - but protesting against ogreicide was just completely out of the ball park. Harry didn't even know that there was ogreicide going on. Though while he find the whole case of protesting against it more on the boring side, he couldn't help but to gape at Hermione as she soon became engrossed in conversation with the other two girls. One or two times he had heard her bring up S.P.E.W. The other girls finally seemed interested in it.

Then Hermione made a point of kicking Harry in the leg.

"What?" Harry said, reaching down to rub his leg. "I didn't say anything!"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "No, not that," she said, glancing around the hall now that everyone had finally gotten to their proper tables and no one was wandering around. "Have you seen Ron? I haven't seen him since we got off the carriage, and Ginny's clear on the other end of the table, so I'm sure she hasn't seen him either."

"He's probably out in the bathroom or somewhere," Harry paused. "I don't blame him much myself. I'd be in the common room myself," he finished with a grin before Hermione rolled her eyes once more. "Y'know, if the Great Hall is like this now I'd hate to think of what the dormitories are going to be like." Hermione, by that point, had turned her attention back to Harry. She for one didn't think that it was going to be at all very pleasant. Lavender and Parvati seemed to be rather excited with the very idea.

Lavender seemed very thrilled actually. "Oh, we could have a party in the girl's dormitory," she said, taking hold of Parvati's arm. She waved her hand at the look that Hermione had shot the both of them. "Come on, Hermione, it's not like you'd be getting much sleep anyway. _Everyone_ is going to be up tonight," Lavender continued, Parvati nodded beside her. The two girls were bent on having some sort of party, it seemed, and Hermione was the least thrilled about it.

Harry found himself grinning at Hermione, patting her shoulder. Knowing the boys, they'd probably just stay awake for a little while, just to get to know each other and do the whole 'Welcome back to Hogwarts!' thing. It was the same every year. Well, with out the getting to know each other part. Harry couldn't help but wonder how different this year was going to be from the last year. After all, Death Eaters had attacked both Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, and now their students were left to attend Hogwarts. The boy couldn't help but let his head wander, and in doing so glanced over to the Slytherin table. All Slytherins were accounted for.

Draco Malfoy was sitting beside Pansy Parkinson with Crabbe and Goyle in front of them. Draco seemed to have caught wind of Harry looking over at their table as he lifted his glass of pumpkin juice. The Slytherin couldn't contain the smirk on his face as Pansy caught his attention, whining about how crowded the Great Hall was, even after Dumbledore, who had just stood up moments ago for announcements, had enlarged the room. The boy could only retort to the girl that the dormitories would more than likely be the same. Pansy had just scowled at him. The girl was whiney, and everyone who at least knew of her, knew that fact. It wasn't at all as if she had tried to hide the small face.

Ignoring what other conversations that there were going on around the Great Hall, Draco cast his gaze from the Gryffindor table to the Ravenclaw table. There was only one person he seemed remotely interested in finding, and once he had found her, he rolled his eyes. His cousin, Kathryn Blair, was of course, flirting with one of the new transfer students. Of course, that was rather typical of the fifteen year old Ravenclaw girl Even as she finally caught her old cousin staring at her, the only thing that she could do was to arch an eyebrow and mouth off the words of, "What?" before the Slytherin boy rolled his shoulders. No one in the school, save for a few of the professors knew that the two were related. Draco spent much of his free time, the time that he got away from Pansy, with her. Kathryn, or Katie as she was most likely to be called (Or Kate), was the only person, next to his mother, that Draco could ever really consider his family.

They were both lewd to an extent, both always intent on getting on the others nerves. The two of them almost always seemed to enjoy a playful banter of sorts, though away from the eye of the rest of the student population. Slytherins and Ravenclaws weren't meant mingle after all.

Beside Draco, Pansy stirred, tugging at his sleeve. "Draco, love," she cooed in a sickening voice that would have caused Draco to flinch if he hadn't heard it since he was little. "Dinner's over. Everyone's leaving. Don't you think it would be best to get back to the common room before the herd of the student mass begins to franticly pile into the corridor?" Without awaiting an answer from the blonde boy, she tugged him up to his feet, taking him by the arm and dragging him out the door.

As they were making for the door, Draco noticed the Ron Weasley had finally joined the herd at the Gryffindor table and he had to suppress a snigger. Before he had any time to count his blessings Draco found himself in the corridor with Pansy clutching at his arm and Crabbe and Goyle following closely behind. All were subject to Pansy's inane whining and complaining about the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students, and how they made things simply too cluttered for her liking, as if the entire world centered around her.

It wouldn't be much longer before the rest of the student mass was in the corridors, making way for their own respective houses. This was just the beginning of one very long school year.


	2. Ginny's Worries

Ginny sighed, stretching out in the chair that she had moved over by the window. It was late and everyone had already gone to bed. Had she not woken up a good ten minutes ago, she would have been up in the fifth year girls dormitory with the rest of the fifth years, sleeping. Instead, she found herself wake and sitting the in common room where her only company was the crackling of dying embers in the fireplace. She would have relight the fire, but that would include going back to the dormitories and getting her wand only to come back down, relight and sit back down. She was quite content on where she was sitting, and had no plans on getting up in the near future, at least not until she got tired, and with the way that things were going as she sat there; swinging one leg back and forth off of the chair, she had a feeling that she wouldn't be tired anytime soon.

She was very much confused, worried, and depressed. The events of last year where still fresh on her mind. The death of Sirius up front and center. While she hadn't known him quite as well as Harry may have, she still felt all kinds of saddened by the fact that he was no longer around. But she told herself, may a time, that she had to be strong, if not for herself, then for Harry. But even that seemed like a hard thing to do. She had only seen him once over the summer, and that was the day before everyone set off for school. They were in Diagon Alley, and he was absolutely bent on being strong for everyone, despite several people telling him that it wasn't his fault about what happened. Even Ginny knew better than to believe his half hearty-grin and cheeky smile, but she didn't bring it up. He was trying to be strong.

Placing her head on her knees Ginny let out a quiet groan. This was stupid. Was her reason for being awake that she really couldn't get over the fact that Sirius was gone? Sure, he was close to some of the people that were close to her, but she only really knew him as well as Ron or Hermione did. He seemed to gravitate more closer to Harry, his godson, and Harry never minded his company. Or Remus' for that matter. Maybe it was because they had been good friends with his parents or something. Loss was a common thing that all three of them shared, and then thing that Remus and Sirius shared was Harry. The son of their best friend. Who was apparently all too much like James Potter himself had been. That thought made Ginny smile just a little.

Harry still had Remus.

Glancing out the window the girl blinked two times before closing her eyes. It was going to be a long night, and with these thoughts constantly badgering her, she hadn't the faintest idea when she would get to sleep, she could only hope that it would be soon. The last thing that she needed was to fall asleep in the middle of whatever class she had first in the morning. Oh Merlin. Classes. Those were one thing that she didn't want to think about at all. How could she want to? No one in the right mind, save for Hermione and possibly a few Ravenclaws, ever thought about classes being remotely fun. Interesting, maybe, fun? Most defiantly not. Actually, thinking it over, there was a good chance that she would have Potions some time tomorrow before lunch. What a way to start off the school year.

Thinking about classes sure didn't stop Ginny from looking out the window.

All the while, Harry, who was still very much upstairs in the sixth years boys dormitory was asleep. It may not have been the best sleep, mind you, but he was a sleep; even if he was tossing and turning in his bed. A good amount of his mind was telling him to wake up while another part of his mind was fighting back and willing the boy to remain asleep. His mind was torn, and it wasn't at all a very pleasant thing, either. There was always that part of him that was whispering the same thing over and over. _Wake up. Wake up. Wake up._ The other part of him would just lull him off back to sleep. However, it was when the two parts of his mind came together at the same time he awoke.

At first the boy just lay there, staring up into the dark before putting a hand to his forehead, screwing his eyes shut. He wasn't a night person, and he wasn't a morning person. Rolling over onto his stomach he breathed in heavily the sent that was on his pillow before exhaling, and pushing himself up. He rubbed at the back of his neck before letting out a rather could rival one of his house mates snores. Even In the darkness, everything was a blur to him. Sometimes he wished it could always be like that, just a blur. But as always, a dull ach began to form around his eyes and the bridge of his nose, signaling that he needed his glasses. With a low groan to himself, Harry rolled once more so that he was facing his bedside table, and plucked his glasses off of it before slipping them on and watching as the dark room came into focus.

It wasn't long before Harry found himself out of bed and walking down the stair into the common room. The room wasn't lit at all, save for the small glow coming from the fireplace. For a moment, Harry thought he was alone until he heard someone stifle a sneeze and then utter a small 'bugger'. He glanced around the room, looking for the source of the voice when at last his eyes landed on the arm chair by the window, and the redhead who was currently seated in said chair. He managed a faint grin before the figure turned her head and gave a faint gasp before scowling playfully.

"Don't do that, Harry!" Ginny hissed, waving at hand at him as he walked over. "It's late - and creepy, you just sneaking up on people."

Harry frowned. "I wasn't sneaking up on you. I didn't even know you were in here," he replied simply, not managing to hold back a grin as Ginny hit his arm before he took a seat on the table next to her.

The girl frowned at her friend before hitting him once more. "Don't you grin at me Harry Potter! You should be in bed."

"So should you."

The two of them just sat in silence for a moment longer, both glancing out the window. They both should have been in bed, they knew that. Neither of them could sleep, and that was the problem.. Ginny was now running on twenty minutes of being awake, and Harry just a few good minutes. Well, maybe ten, including the time he had spent up in the boys dormitories. While Ginny had no real reasoning for her being away, beside her worrying - which actually was a fairly good reason to be awake, Harry was awake because of his dream, and his mind nagging at him all the while.

Harry mused quietly to himself for a moment, placing the palms of his hands down into the table and leaning back slightly, having crossed his legs at the ankles. "He's really gone, isn't he?" Harry asked suddenly, glancing up at Ginny. He couldn't help the soft smile that slide across his face. "Sirius I mean. He's really gone. Just like that."

Ginny bit her lip, nodding her head. "Yeah, Harry," she said softly, folding her legs under herself as she studied the boy in the dark quietly. "He's really gone."

The boy could only nod. He sat up straight again, stretching his hands over his head. He didn't quite know what to say. That night was still very clear in his head, but he didn't wan to bring it up, not fully anyway. Even as he sat there now he couldn't help but to notice Ginny staring up at him oddly. He furrowed his eyebrows for a moment before cocking his head to the side, giving the younger girl a questioning look. "What?" He asked, blinking. It was weird. Ginny staring at him like that.

The girl huffed before crossing her arms over her chest, still staring at Harry. "Don't hide things from me, Harry," she said flatly, still looking at her friend. When she frowned suddenly, she shook her head. "You're not the only one suffering from Sirius' death, you know that. It's not going to do you any good to grin and bottle up what's bothering you. Talk to someone. Please."

"Ginny, I-"

Ginny just smiled faintly before yawning. "I'm going to bed," she said before standing up. She wasn't going to put the arm chair back in its place by the fireplace. With any luck, it would be back in its rightful spot by morning. "'Night, Harry!" The redhead chirped before sauntering off up the stairs, leaving behind a very confused looking Harry.

The boy only shook his head before sighing. He wouldn't admit it aloud, but he was sure that Ginny was right. Harry laid back on the table for a moment, pressing the palms of his hands to his forehead, groaning quietly before figuring it would be best if he followed Ginny's leave and go to bed as well. And he did just that as he slipped off of the table and begun his walk to the boys dormitories once more.


	3. Of Rocks and Water

**A/N:** This chapter was co-written with toxical, because I trust her with Draco and she knows where this fic is going.

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Having just missed breakfast, and feeling rather lazy to go to the kitchen Harry made his way out to the grounds, passing few students as he did so. Like any normal kid, he was glad for it to finally be the weekend, but at the same time, he wanted to be in class, learning something. Just doing something really. He felt like a lump on a log at the moment - not doing anything. And no, homework didn't count as doing something. That counted as murder to the brain.

Not much had changed for the Boy Wonder, clearly. He was still missing breakfast, still not wanting to do his homework, and he just couldn't wait for Quidditch to start up. But that was a whole different story. Wait, saying not much had changed for Harry was lie. Things had defiantly changed since last year, and he wasn't quite sure what that was supposed to mean for him. .

Heaving a sigh Harry threw himself against a tree, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Idly, he watched the lake, noting the small waves caused by the light breeze. Stress would soon be building for him. The DA, Voldemort, class, everything. He knew that he was just going to have to take it all one step at a time. Somehow, he knew that wouldn't work. Something would mess it up. But, at least he still had his friends to help him along the way. Didn't he?

If he could just make it through this year.

Harry was sure he could make it through next year.

Draco kicked at the ground as he walked the grounds of Hogwarts, his hands shoved in his pockets. He wasn't particularly looking forward to the start of the year. Mostly because it meant facing people he didn't want to face (if he hadn't already) and putting up the facade he always did upon returning to school. Like he was absolutely randy with the idea of becoming a Death Eater, or perhaps the one where he hadn't the faintest idea _about_ the Death Eaters.

Draco, in an attempt to avoid his peers, had skipped lunch and opted for a walk around the castle, which eventually lead him outside. So far, whenever he'd spotted someone he didn't want to exchange words with, he'd slipped out of view as fast he could. So far, he'd been lucky, and hadn't been spotted yet. But luck wasn't something Draco was for very long.

This proved true when he stumbled down the path to the Lake and stubbed his toe. Even with shoes on, he yelped in pain. If he hadn't been wearing his shoes, his toe would probably have broken. Luckily, Quidditch had provided him with enough balance skills to remain standing. As he cursed his mouth off, he looked around and spotted the one person he was most dreading to see.

His face became that of stone, not even a twitch in his eye or a flare of his nostril. He'd become so stiff it almost appeared as though he wasn't breathing. He'd really done it this time. _Tripping_ in front of Potter. Great. Just peachy. He would've loved to walk over to a tree and give his head a few good cracks. He eyed his rival warily, sticking his hands back into his pockets.

Before Draco had even tripped, Harry looked up, his back stiffing a little bit. He shut his eyes, and inwardly groaned. Wonderful. When the other boy had tripped, and then yelped, he snorted softly. That was a smart move, on the Slytherin's half, wasn't it? Harry didn't do much else, however. There wasn't much he could do actually. It wasn't as though he could simply ask how the other boy was or if he was all right, and then hope to start up some kind of conversation about absolutely lovely the weather was this afternoon. That would just never work. There was no logic there, the thought of the two of them ever being civil to one another wasn't rational, it wasn't logical. It would simply never happen.

Hell would freeze over before that day ever happened. And it was likely never to. Again Harry snorted. The very image of hell freezing was rather amusing. He mentally shook himself as the Giant Squid surfaced. Harry eyed it momentarily before Malfoy threw a rock at it, and it thrashed about before going under once again. He rolled his eyes. Typical. Moody as ever, and seemingly wanting to ruin everybody's lives, or at least spoil the peace. Oh, if only Harry could just disappear and worry about Voldemort on his own, without people looking over his shoulder wondering if he had lost his mind, or wondering what he would do about the man who simply refused to die. Oh, he could only wish.

Of course, wishing never got him anywhere. It certainly never brought his parents back from the dead when he was a little boy. Why should it work for him now? It wouldn't.

Harry became lost in his thoughts again, seemingly having forgotten that his rival was pretty much behind him, more so off to the side, however. He kept his hands stuffed with in his pockets, still staring idly out across the lake. Out of no where a shiver ran down his spine, and he blinked. Oh he had too much to do, and he didn't want to do it. Why, why him? Harry had never complained about anything before in his life, except maybe about the Dursley's, but that was natural. Now, every time he so much as said he didn't want to deal with Voldemort he was pretty much scowled at, like he had whined about it since he was a little boy.

First people thought he had lost his mind. Now people were calling him a whiner. What next? A bloody failure? He didn't doubt it. For a brief moment Harry pondered what people would say if he was to be killed by Voldemort before the school year ended. He could imagine a few people would say something along the line of how they knew he couldn't actually defeat Voldemort. At least it was sort of comforting to know that his friends believed in him, and where there for support when he needed it most. He only hoped, however, that they would always be there when he needed him.

Harry's whole summer had been a bore. He had spent a short amount of time at the Dursley's before being whisked off to the Grimmauld Place, there it had been nothing but deadly quiet, and all of the Order members smiling weakly at him whenever they saw him. He had spent a good amount of time in his room, staring up at the ceiling. Of course Harry had been more active than that, but that is what he spent a good amount of his time doing, as well as continuing to explore the house. Once or twice even he had gotten himself into a yelling fight with the portrait of Mrs. Black. One time it had ended with him calling her an old bat, and telling her to shut her face.

Harry looked different. Draco couldn't pinpoint what it was, but he was different. Anger flourished inside of him, or more, perhaps, jealousy. How could that stupid Gryffindor look so calm when there was a war going on and he was at the center of it? Draco wasn't the prime target of Voldemort, and yet he was still scared shitless - a fact that he would never exploit. He'd lost his composure, and was grumbling to himself, a hard scowl on his face.

He couldn't help it. He'd had a wretched summer, and now here was the Boy Who Lived looking as though he'd had at least a decent one. He probably _had_. Draco watched the lake through slits for eyes. The Giant Squid surfaced, and Draco glanced at Harry, before getting angry again, and grabbing a rock. He marched to the edge of the lake, before chucking the rock as hard as he could muster, and hit the Giant Squid directly on the top of its head. It thrashed in the water, before disappearing below the surface. Draco picked up another rock and weighed it in his hands.

Naturally, he had the inclination to throw the rock at Harry. He had resisted the urge the first time, but he gripped the rock tightly as thoughts overwhelmed him. He was a flurry of emotion, and it was all Potter's fault. He had retained his composure up until this point. Everything that had happened this summer was Potter's fault. He couldn't have just bloody killed the bane of Draco's existence at the Ministry of Magic could he? In some ways, Draco felt as though Harry had failed _him._ Like Harry was _his_ savior, but had unsuccessfully done so, despite being 'The Great Harry Potter'.

Gritting his teeth, he whirled around on his heel and threw the rock, which hit the tree directly above Harry's head. It would've been a perfect shot, had he been aiming for that particularly spot. "Missed," he snarled, shoving his hands back in his pockets, vehemently wishing that looks could kill.

"What was that for," Harry instantly snapped, turning his head toward the other boy before pushing himself off of the tree. Warily, he eyed the rock that was now on the ground beside him before arching his eyebrows and looking back up.

"_What was that for_?" Draco repeated Harry, in a voice that was a cross between a sneer and a snarl. "Are you really so dumb, Potter?" he asked, glancing over at him, chucking another rock into the lake. "Bad question. We all know the answer to that," he sneered scathingly.

Again Harry rolled his eyes. "Oh yes, we all know the answer to that question," he snorted bitterly. "Lets all lock Potter up in St. Mungo's and give him special classes in hopes he learns something. Bad question indeed." Harry said before promptly leaning once more against the tree, his hands still comfortably stuffed into his pockets, his hands clenched into balled fists. Mentally, he was humming, trying to drown out anything Draco may have said or done after his last remark.

Draco's lips curled upwards in a snarl, and his hand was wrapped around his wand so tightly that his knuckles were turning white and cramping. "As if you weren't _special_ enough," he sneered. "I'd sooner hand you over to You-Know-Who myself." If one thought about this hard enough, they would realize two things: 1) Draco didn't want Harry to go to St. Mungo's because he would be deemed as 'special', no matter how you put it, and this was some supremely messed up thinking. And 2) While Draco would rather hand him over to Voldemort, this was clearly not something he wanted to do, either, despite his seemingly immense hatred for the other boy.

"I bet," Harry said shortly "Mind telling me something I don't know for a change. Really, hearing the same things for the past five years is getting old." He commented, holding back the urge to shrug. It was tempting, but all the same he did nothing but arch an eyebrow momentarily. He'd much rather be locked away in St. Mungo's if it meant being able to get away from the stress at the school, and Draco. Maybe there he could actually get some work done, and have a bit of quiet. Highly doubtful. When had Harry ever had any peace to himself? Certainly not when he was younger, and ever since he had come to Hogwarts his life had been hectic.

Harry blamed most of his problems at school on Draco, most everyone knew that. The feeling was pretty much mutual, though it differed in some ways. At the current moment Harry begun to wonder once more why he hadn't just left the grounds before any of this started. Harry hated any sort of attention that was brought onto him, and he also hated it when people didn't listen to him. Both made him want to scream until he was blue in the face. He wasn't one to crave spotlight, because then people would often think that was all he wanted was to be the center of attention. As if.

Not to mention fourth year was the year he became The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Cried Voldemort, more like. Why did no one ever want to believe him? And the people that did were usually insane, like Dumbledore, or his best friends. He didn't mind the latter, but it was only obvious that Dumbledore would believe him. Ugh.

"Bloody hell, Malfoy, you have gone mad." Harry grunted, kicking the rock aside with a shake of his head. What was Malfoy on about, anyway? Of all of the random things he could have done, he threw a rock. A rock of all things! Honestly. Could he have been more childish. Harry rolled his eyes. Maybe that mound of blonde hair was finally getting to the boy.

Draco sneered at Harry. "What makes you think I wasn't always?" he barked out harshly, a wretched scowl on his face. In the moments that he was overcome with anger, he really did look slightly mad. But could one blame him, had they known everything he'd gone through? Perhaps he wasn't mad at all, merely - different. Changed. He looked very much like his father in that very moment, before he picked up another rock and threw it out into the water.

"Good question," Harry snorted, rolling his eyes once more. That was all he was going to say. He had thought that Draco was mad for quite some time now, of course he never actually voiced an opinion on this. Most people that he knew would have agreed with him. However when he was caught muttering that over the summer some Order member told him that it wasn't a nice thing to say, claiming some were overly spoilt and driven into madness. Well, it did seem logical. Or it did. No, wait… yeah it did so logical, and at the moment remained so to Harry.

Draco turned on his heel. "Shut the hell up, Potter!" he shouted at the other boy, his temper flaring. A voice in the back of his head was telling him to calm down, but he couldn't. His fists were clenched at his sides. Everything that was wrong in his life was _Potter's_ fault and he couldn't ignore that prominent thought. Even if he had brought the answer upon himself. He was as sane as sane could be! That was, if the sane were _in_sane. He was, at the moment, ill-composed and blinded by rage

Harry sniggered. "Someone's got a temper," he mocked. If that mere comment had the same effect on Draco than it did on him, he was going to laugh. Probably most insanely, too. He was doing his best to remain calms, and by all means, he was doing much, much better then Draco at the current moment. But if thing progressed any further, which he knew they would, they always did, then he was have about as much a temper as Draco did, if not more, though knowing him, he would have less of a temper. Oh, like that made any sense at all. Still, Harry couldn't help but to silently snigger.

Draco's scowl deepened. "Oh, bugger off," he snapped. _He_ had a temper? He had a right to have a temper, if you asked him. His fists clenched at his sides, and as he gritted his teeth, he wanted nothing more than to pummel the Boy Who Lived's head into the tree he was leaning against. That would _really_ make his day. But at the moment, he'd already lost some self-control, he wasn't about to risk the rest of it. But could you really blame him? If there was anyone who got under his skin, it was Potter.

Harry only grinned. That was all he could do really. That was exactly the reply he was going for, too. After a summer of being told he had a temper it was actually nice to be able to tell someone else that they had a temper. Besides, Harry had more of an attitude then a temper, if anything. It was just funny watching Malfoy get all worked up. It reminded him that he wasn't the only one who could get worked up so easily. Which was a good thing, for him. He had always thought that there was something wrong with him because of that.

"Whatever suits," Harry said with a shrug of his shoulders before he went back to leaning against his tree. There wasn't much to say after all. Oh, was he going to go off on how oh so lovely the weather was yet? Or maybe he could strike up a conversation on Quidditch, and laugh the whole way through it at himself. He would probably still get confused on some of the terms used in the game. But that was all fine and dandy, it was never going to happen, unless you counted them threatening each other about how they're going to knock the other off of their broom during a game. Though even that would be a funny one to talk about.

Talk about being a hypocrite, when it came to the whole rock thing. Harry bent down, picking up another rock, looking at it for a moment in the palm of his hand before he thrust it forward toward Malfoy, which mind you had actual hit a part of his target. Malfoy's leg. Pity that, too. He had been aiming for the other boys head. Oh well, at least his rock had actually made contact. He shrugged his shoulders before leaning against the tree once more, stuffing his hands into his pocket while doing so. He muttered something under his breath about how the both of them should very well stick to being Seekers as neither of them could throw worth a damn. Which, from what had just happened, was very much true.

Grinding his teeth together, Draco returned his hands to his pockets, fingering his wand. He wanted nothing more than to curse Harry into oblivion right then. The thought of killing him had crossed his mind, but the instant he thought about it, he felt his stomach do a roll. He swallowed hard. Then Harry threw a rock and it hit him in the leg. While Draco might've felt slightly triumphant as to the boy's rather poor aim, he felt even more appalled that the Gryffindor would have the gall to do such a thing. Draco had had a reason to throw _his_ rock. Potter was only throwing one back because he was too stupid to figure out why the rock had been thrown in the first place.

Draco bent down and scooped up a handful of rocks, and threw the first, and it skidded across the ground and hit the other boy's shoe. Then he threw another, taking a step forward and this one hit Harry in the leg. He continued to throw the rocks until he only had one left, and was standing only a few feet away from Harry. The last one he simply tossed, and it promptly hit Harry on the top of his head.

Harry should have just headed back to the castle when he heard the other boy. Why didn't he? Because something in his mind repeatedly told him to ignore the Slytherin. Of course, the louder side of Harry over ruled that little mental battle, and thus the current situation. Even though Malfoy did start it, but still Harry had responded.

Head check needed? Oh yes.

Harry looked down momentarily as a rock skidded into his shoe, and inwardly groaned. More rocks came his way, though the second one had hit his leg. Had it been a bigger rock he would have winced in pain, and reached down to rub his leg. This wasn't the case however. Though when he was finally nailed on the top of his head he scowled before rubbing it, not even bothering a glance over at the other boy.

It was an extremely childish act, but Draco could hardly care either way. "You disgust me, Potter."

"That's old news," Harry said quickly. "Anything else?"

Draco stuck his hands back in his pockets and he turned away from the other boy, walking back towards the lake. "You have less brains than a fucking flobberworm," he shouted, kicking a rock at his feet. "I hope Voldemort kills you and the rest of your bloody Order," he snapped, though this was a lie. The last thing Draco wanted was for Harry to be killed by Voldemort. Killed, maybe, but not before he'd rid the world of the dark menace.

Staring blankly at Draco Harry shook his head. Yeah, he was defiantly acting childish. "My bloody Order? Since when is it _my_ Order?" Harry sneered, unable to help himself. "Can't really be mine if I can't attend the meetings, eh? My Order indeed," he muttered the last part more to himself.

If someone hadn't known Draco at all, they probably would've found it surprising he knew about the Order. But it wasn't - not when they were the lead group in opposing Voldemort. And Draco knew practically everything their was to know involving the Death Eaters. The thought of this brought a bitter taste to his mouth. "Since when is it _not_ your Order? They practically _bow_ to your every whim, don't they? Protect their dear Golden Boy from danger? I bet they have an alter set up on your behalf, too."

Had one been particularly intuitive, they would've seen that, perhaps it was not rage that Draco was overcome by, but jealousy. Jealous that Harry recieved more attention then he did. Jealous that someone - anyone - protected Harry from the harms of the Death Eaters and their Lord. There was no one to protect Draco from that. And how he dearly wished there was. Not even those he called 'friends' would vouch for him in that respect. They were either too afraid of the Dark Lord, as he was, or supported the insane man entirely.

Harry laughed. "They hardly listen to me. They tell me nothing, and Dumbledore," he snorted bitterly at that. "'Get some rest, Harry.' 'You'll know in time,' 'Please, stay calm'. Oh, and lets not forget my favorite one, 'Just wait a little longer, you'll know everything.'" Harry said, counting off the phrases on his fingers. Now, more than ever, he wanted to bash his skull into a wall, and just pass out. He wondered if possibly he could do that on the tree. He'd sooner be unconscious than have to deal with the Slytherin boy.

Probably the one thing that no one knew about Harry was that if asked, he would help protect anyone, being tired of being the protected. Being sheltered most of his life at Hogwarts, he was more than willing to shelter anyone, as best he could. However, he wasn't going to admit it, he was going to let people find that out on their own. And if they couldn't, pity for them.

Draco looked over at Harry with a scowl on his face, before snorting at all that Harry had said. "Haven't you ever heard the phrase, 'Ignorance is bliss'?" he said, an indistinguishable expression on his face. Quite frankly, Draco often felt as though he knew too much. Perhaps if he knew less, he wouldn't feel so wretched in becoming a Death Eater. Maybe he wouldn't have to, if he knew nothing. He was stuck in a situation he couldn't get out of, and very much felt like a damsel in distress - which disgusted him.

The Gryffindor snorted. "Probably," he admitted with a shrug. "Not big on sayings." Harry was half tempted to laugh. He wasn't about to admit that he had indeed heard that phrase, though while he wasn't big on phrases, he was big on quotes, which, lately, he had been reading a lot of. Yes, he refused to say that 'ignorance is bliss' was a quote. He was refusing at the moment to admit all of the above. And that was very typical of Harry. Actually, it was typical of any teenager, boy or girl.

Harry would never admit to being ignorant when he was, and he knew he was. Harry would rather stay in denial of the whole Voldemort, and war thing. He refused to believe that teenagers were becoming Death Eaters. Harry simply refused to believe that he was talking with a son of a Death Eater who was probably well on his way to becoming one, whether it was on his own will or not. He had faith in Draco, which was also something he refused to admit aloud, and would be scolded by from Ron and Hermione for ever thinking such a thing. But he did have faith in the boy before him. Though what that faith was, he didn't know.

"And Malfoy, find a better way to take out your anger," Harry paused, before taking on a more serious tone. "You're starting to resemble my cousin at four. Not that there's a difference." With that said Harry turned to make his way back to the castle.

Draco picked up another rock. "Take out my anger? What better way to 'take out my anger' on the thing that makes me most angry? What do you do? Take it out on your beloved Mudblood and Weasel?" he snapped, ignoring the comment about acting four. "Is that what happened to your _dog_father? Got angry at something and decided, 'Let's get him killed. That'll make me feel better.'" He gave a harsh laugh, before throwing the rock into the water. Yes, Draco Malfoy was, very possibly, clinically insane. Or perhaps, simply misunderstood. Probably a bit of both.

Pausing to think of an actual answer to that Harry had to wonder if he actually did take his anger out on Ron and Hermione. "On who ever is around at the moment," Harry admitted. "They happened to be around last year. At least I know enough to just yell at them, and not throw rocks of all things. And the truth? I was mad at Dumbledore at the time." Harry gritted his teeth when he heard the comment made about Sirius, clenching his fists even more. It was taking him a great deal to keep them from shaking. Even though he could hardly careless. Sirius was like family to him, never mind the fact that he was Draco's cousin or something of the sort. "One, I wasn't mad at anything, Malfoy," Harry hissed through gritted teeth. "And two, hell would freeze over before I ever decided to have my last hope of a family killed." Now the voice inside of Harry was deathly telling him to stay calm. It wasn't working much at all.

"That's lovely, Potter, really," Draco sneered, before picking up another rock.

"I know," Harry snorted. "It shows by that _lovely_ expression you're wearing."

"When the bane of your existence is sitting under a tree, acting like nothing's wrong even though he's in the middle of a war - I imagine you'd be compelled to throw _rocks, of all things,_ at him," he snapped irritably, slightly calmer than previously. He threw the rock in his hand into the lake. Draco rolled his eyes. Harry was always one to take the bait. Either way, Draco couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "I would give anything for the last of my family to be killed." This was probably a very stupid wish, and it was typical of a teenager of Draco's age. However, when one's family is forcing one to become practically a slave to a hideous Dark Lord, it was no wonder Draco wished them dead.

"Thank you for sharing," The Gryffindor added before looking up. He shook his head. "Key word there, Malfoy, is acting. I'm not going to say there's nothing wrong with me, or that I'm not bothered by it," Harry said shifting his footing just so that he could kick a rock into the lake. Much better than throwing. He didn't have to bend down. "I'm sixteen. I can't do everything." He said, kicking another rock in to the lake. _As much as I want to do everything._ Harry added silently.

Draco just scowled before kicking a rock into the lake. "Perhaps if you're lucky enough, my aunt will throw you behind that veil as well," he sneered, glancing back to the other boy. Oh, it was no surprise really, that he knew. His aunt had only boasted about all summer to his mother, and he had the absolute _pleasure_ of having to listen to her go on and one about how she had _killed_ her own family. In these times family meant almost nothing. If you were with the Death Eaters and you just happened to betray them, you were dead.

The Gryffindor just stared blankly up at the other boy before a scowl etched itself onto his own face. "I feel sorry for you," he said, narrowing his eyes. "Related to a bunch of batshit insane murders. If Lestrange had a kid that kid would be pretty mussed up, worse off even than you, Malfoy," Harry went on, never once knowing that Bellatrix Lestrange did in fact have a child. It was probably for the better that he didn't know, too.

The simple comment from Harry was enough to cause a sneer to curl on Draco's lips. His mind had instantly flown to Kathryn. Katie. He didn't much care for the name Kathryn. She was normal, compared to both Malfoy and Lestrange standards. She was even a Ravenclaw, not to mention he was the only person he really went to when he needed to either get away from Pansy or to talk. Whenever Katie was around it made Pansy feel put off. That was the plus side to having Katie as a cousin and no one else knowing. "Bellatrix's kid wouldn't be deranged, Potter," he snarled, clenching his own fists.

"Yeah, and I don't have a scar on my head," Harry snorted. "Face it, the kid would be just as insane as its mother."

It wasn't long before the two of them found themselves on the ground. Draco on top of Harry, pushing the other boy forcefully to the ground by his shoulders. And then Harry had turned the table by kneeing the Slytherin boy, and flipping them, slamming his back to the ground. The was quite a bit of struggling as the two of them aimed to grab a hold of each others neck, and in doing so, ended up rolling closer and closer to the waters edge. Before long they were actually in the water, and Harry had once again pinned Draco before his fist came in contact with the other boys jaw.

When they were flipped again the rolled a bit more into the water, and Harry's back connected with the corner of a rock that was in the water and he groaned before receiving a blow to the abdomen.

Neither of them saw it, but two of the French transfer students had come over, and begun to pull the two of them apart, probably before they could do any more damage to each other. Or before any professors came out. Once they were a good few feet away from each other, still in the grasp of one of the transfer students, they shrugged away, both stalking off in opposite directions.

Harry swore he was right. If Bellatrix had a kid, the kid would be insane - worse even. "Bloody Malfoy."

Draco knew better. He actually knew Bellatrix's kid. And she was normal. "Fucking Potter."


	4. Relative Chatter

She had one, maybe two bites of her dinner before she eventually stopped eating and just stared down at the food in front of her. She had actually wanted to eat, but it felt like her stomach couldn't hold anymore. Instead she just took the last remaining drinks of her pumpkin juice before standing to leave for the common room. Or so she had told some of her housemates who had asked her where she was going all of a sudden. When she had finally left the Great Hall, all she had done was stood outside of the doors for a moment, contemplating whether or not she wanted to bash her head into the wall across from her or go tumbling down the seventh floor staircase. Hell, jumping off of the Astronomy Tower seemed like a good idea. However, she didn't know why she was contemplating any of this. She wasn't at all suicidal.

With her shoulders slumped Kate managed to drag herself to the nearest bathroom. She turned the tap on, watching the water run for a moment or two, just listening to the sound it made as it came splashing out of the faucet and in to the sink. Pulling her hair back into a loose ponytail before cupping his hands under the water, and letting it collect there before splashing some water on her face three times before finally turning the tap off. Glancing up at the mirror, which looked like every other bathroom mirror within the school, she couldn't help but to blink several times as droplets of water fell into her eyes She took her hands and brushed the water off her face before fixing her ponytail so that it would hold longer.

Now Kate looked into the mirror, suddenly thinking that she should have dunked her head into the water. Her bangs were already wet, and still dripping, and because of the cold water, she looked flushed. Her cheeks were tinged a shade of pink that one would get from laughing for too long. But, with her hair, that is bangs, wet she only managed to look somewhat ill. Well, that was absolutely brilliant. She didn't know what she was doing. She felt well enough, she had an appetite, just not when food was placed before her. Her forehead wasn't exceeding boiling point, and there wasn't a thing bothering her, either. Well, no that was an absolute lie if she ever did bother to think one up.

The Ravenclaw sniggered quietly to herself before holding her left arm with her right. Just with that one look into the mirror, she figured that she looked weak.

With a bit of grumbling Kate found herself out of the bathroom and into the corridor once more, this time headed for the grounds. It was too stuffy inside, she figured. Everyone was pretty much inside, and if a professor happened to ask where she was going, she'd simply say that she had left a book or two of hers out by the lake from when she was studying earlier before dinner. Even though she had been doing no such thing. she'd been with two of her housemates all day - for the most part, if not lying on her bed, attempting to figure out her homework, which was work that even a first year could do. Her mind hadn't been into it at all. In fact, her mind had been focused around a certain on her parents. Talk about some strange things to be thinking about instead of homework, or something normal. She had to be thinking about her parents all day. That was just asking for too much, thinking about two Death Eaters. Actually, it was very unheard of. Sure, Kate was the daughter, but that didn't mean that she _liked_ her parents. Hell, she had never grown up with them!

Finally outside she stood for a moment, looking up at the sky. The sun was tinged a sort or soft orange red as the sun began to set behind the horizon. Of course, an October evening wouldn't be anything without clouds and a rather chilly breeze. It was the perfect October evening, and that was why she didn't particularly like it, or so she thought as she made her way around the side of the castle to the courtyard. It was a place to go, because she knew that no body liked to sit out in the courtyard in October. Most of the students didn't enjoy coming outside during the month, either. It was either rainy or just too cold. Of course, when December rolled around, everyone flocked outside for the snow. She was guilty of flocking out with half of the student population to be in the snow.

Once inside of the courtyard Kate pulled her robes closer around herself before taking a seat on one of the benches. She stared absentmindedly around at some of the wilting flowers, and some of the flowers that were charmed to change color depending on the season. She laid down on the bench, throwing on arm over her eyes. Today was just one of those days. And there seemed to be a lot of those days, too. Wonderful.

The Ravenclaw wouldn't be left by herself for very much longer, of course, as a certain Slytherin boy had decided to skip out on dinner altogether, and he too found himself in the courtyard. With probably less on his mind than the girl, but still enough to cause him to go outside. It had to have run in the family. At least it had to have run in the Black blood, that they had in common. After actually walking around the courtyard he had spotted his cousin laying on one of the benches, and gave a poke to her side which cause the girl to squirm.

"Budge up, will you?" He said, watching as his cousin gave him a fleeting scathing look before moving over on the bench to give him enough room. He laid down next to her, crossing his feet at the ankles, staring up at the sky above them. He didn't even notice when Katie and shoved her hands into her pocket and turned her head to look at him. There was a little resemblance between them. They had the same high cheekbones, and shape of the mouth so that when the both of them scowled, the scowls were identical. They could have been considered twins if either Draco's hair was the same shade of blonde as his cousins, or Katie's was the same white blonde as his. Katie, he figured, has the better deal. Her hair color was a natural shade of blonde, unlike his. "What?" he said, upon finally noticing his cousin looking at him.

The girl frowned, turning her head to look back up at the sky. "I go the mark, Draco. This summer," she said quietly, catching her cousins grimace at her words. She continued to frown. Neither of them had wanted to get it, and they had always betted that Draco would be the first to get it. But since Lucius was currently still in Azkaban it only figured that Katie would have gotten it first. "_She_ charmed the whole house or something, because they were all just - asleep at the table when they took me. When I came back, they thought I had just been down the street at the park," she rubbed at her left forearm miserably. Not because it hurt anymore, but because it itched.

Draco winced. "Did it hurt?" He asked, clearly already knowing the answer seeing as his cousin had kicked him lightly in the leg. He snickered. Katie took his left arm and held to fingers to the fore of it before looking at it and saying, "Like hell." This time both of them snickered. They both knew that Draco was next in line. It wouldn't be long until Lucius Malfoy broke out of Azkaban with a few other Death Eaters, they both knew this too.

The two of them just lay there like that, occasionally poking, kicking, or smacking the other. It was only after Draco had ask the younger girl what she was going to do did she shake her head and frown. "I dunno," she said before wrinkling her nose. "Technically, I don't have to attend the meetings, because of my age. Bellatrix wants me to, though," Kate mumbled that last bit, but it didn't go unheard.

Draco closed his eyes, pushing the palms of his hands to his eyes. "Get help," he said. He didn't remove his hands. "Go to Dumbledore. I'm plenty sure that he'd be able to offer up some protection." Draco couldn't help but to wince remembering the last time that he had been pulled into the old mans office. The headmaster had asked if there was anything that had been troubling him, meaning Death Eaters, and Draco only shrugged and gave a 'No, sir.' Draco snickered. "Or there's Potter. He has that DA thing of his."

"No," Katie whined. "There's no way I'm going to Dumbledore. He may be our headmaster and all but just no," she said, completely leaving out the part about Harry. Of course, Draco noticed.

"Kate," the Slytherin said, glancing at his cousin out of the corner of his eyes.

"I'm not going to that DA thing unless you go with me."

"I can't go," Draco groaned into his hands before fully looking at his cousin. "Not after last year. I can't just walk in there like everything just perfectly - normal."

Katie scowled. "Bollocks," she snapped. "Draco Lucien Malfoy, I'm not going unless you go with me." The Ravenclaw crossed her arms over her chest.

Draco flinched. His full name. Of all things that she could have used, she had to use his full name. Bollocks to her, he thought with a scowl. Of course, there was no way of getting out of this, not when the girl had her mind set. All he could do was agree to go with her. Well, maybe he could find a way to get her to go without actually having to go himself. Well, it was worth a shot. "I'll walk you there," he said, glancing at the girl out of the corner of his eye. "And I'll meet you there when it's over."

The girl continued to scowl. "Fine, but I loathe you for this."

"And I can throw you in the lake."

"And I can owl Aunt Narcissa."

Draco scowled. That was one thing that the girl had over him. She always, like Pansy, told his mother when he was being absolutely rude. He couldn't yell at either girl without getting a Howler the next morning from his mother, reminding him to mind his manners and apologize. It had already caused the school to wonder when it was exactly that Draco begun to get reprimanded for something that he had down. Of course, the Gryffindor's had found it all loads funny. The threat used to be that the girls would tell his father; that never resulted in a Howler. He'd get punishment when he returned home for the summer.

For a reason that Draco couldn't fathom, Katie began to laugh next to him before she pulled her robes closer to herself before putting her head against Draco's. She was trying to stifle her laughter. "Know who you're taking to that ball that Dumbledore announced?" The girl smirked. She knew her cousin all too well. While he hated dances and balls, and loved to dance, simply because he was good at it. She also happened to know that Pansy was dead set on being his arm candy. That was what had caused her to laugh. Eventually, Draco understood as well.

"Bugger off you crazy bint," he scowled, jabbing her in the side. His cousin yelped.

"Why do I got to be the bint then? Prat." Katie drawled as best she could, but that fact that she was close to more laughter put a falter in it. She snorted in laughter. Finally biting down on her lower lip, and trying to avoid another jab in the side from Draco she sniggered. "You realize Pansy's bound to latch on to you if you don't figure out something. Plus, it's a Halloween Masque, the chance that she'll wear something that - centers around flowers, well, I'm only going to say that I wouldn't want her hanging off my arm for the entire night."

Draco sniggered. "She hates you, you realize. Pans' claims that you're trying to steal me away from her."

"S'good thing she doesn't know that I'm your cousin then," Katie paused to smirk. "And that you're gay."

"How you found out is beyond me."

"Well, no, you just scream gay."

While Draco scowled Katie beamed. It wasn't the fact that she had _found out_ that he was gay, she told him was gay, and quite bluntly as well. It had actually been at the end of their last year his fourth year. Three days before the end of term. They had been sitting on the steps of the castle outside, watching few people pass, talking and the like. They were just eating their lunch that they had made, which was actually just chicken sandwiches. Then a ground of Durmstrang students had walked past, and Draco's eyes had followed them the whole way. Katie noticed this nearly choking on the bit of sandwich she had been chewing. When Draco had asked her what was wrong with her, she exclaimed in a hushed voice, "Draco, you're gay!" And that had been that. The next shock had been to learn that she was really right, too.

There was no way that anyone could steal Draco away from Pansy for the simple fact that she could never claim him. His interest was in blokes, something that Katie loved to point out as often as she could. It also made it so much easier to be able to talk wit her about her _love life_ of all things. Then again, Draco also had to go about in his lewd way and ask if whoever her current boyfriend or crush was good looking.

"You're suggesting that we go together, aren't you?"

"So you want her to hang off you're arm then? Besides, no one knows we're related."

Draco put his head into his hands before groaning. This was it. He was doomed. He was going to the dance with his cousin. Brilliant. "Fine."

"Oh, and I'll need money for your costume."

Draco arched an eyebrow.

"C'mon, Draco! Have a little fun. I'll let you pick out mine?" Katie pleaded, nudging her cousin in the side, watching his he scowled. She knew perfectly well that he hated the idea. Loathed even. He was a perfectionist if she ever did know one. After all, he was the one who spent more time in front of his mirror than she did her own. It was actually a rather scary thought, but she had learned to get past it all, and settle on the reason being that he needed a boyfriend.

Draco continued to scowl. "And what do you plan on-"

"Leather pants."

"Kathryn Ryan Blair," Draco hissed. Leather pants? She wanted to get him into leather pants. Oh, she was just horrid. Or extremely perverse. He wasn't quite sure. But she certainly was sadistic in her own way. She was laughing once more. "There is absolutely no way I'll be wearing leather pants, queer or not."

Katie just continued to laugh. The simple fact that she had used her full name had set her off. She, of course, would have fallen off of the bench if he had added Lestrange in there, but could only be thankful that he hadn't. "What's the matter, _Drakie-pooh_, afraid that your arse will look absolutely horrible in leather pants?"

"No," The Slytherin sneered. "I'll have you know, _Kitty_, that my arse _always _looks perfect."

The girl sniggered. "What do you do then? Stare at your ass all day? Really, Draco, that's disgusting."

"Fine but you're wearing a dress."

"Draco, that's not fair! I hate dresses, you know that."

A smirk. "Oh, I know."

The girl crossed her arms over his chest, scowling. Dresses. It had to have been dresses. Katie continued to stare at her cousin, scowling all the while. While she was a girl, she didn't fancy wearing a dress. Skirts were as far as she would ever go. But When Draco had his mind set on something, and he clearly was, the was nothing to do but agree. Family or not, she couldn't find a loophole out of it. "Fine," she scowled holding her hand out. "Now, pay up, ponce."

Draco sniggered as he dug into his pocket. He pulled out a small bag of coins and set it in the girls palm. He propped himself up on his elbows and then continued to sit up. "Come on you lump," he said, nudging the Ravenclaw in the side slightly. "Best get inside before the professors and auror's start wandering around."

Katie groaned as she found herself being pulled to her feet moments later. It wasn't exactly long before the two of them were on their way inside the castle together. Between the two of them there was more talk of throwing Katie in the lake, and more talk of what she was going to force Draco to wear. The two of them couldn't contain their sniggers. The bright side of all of it? Neither of them would have to deal with Pansy the night of the Masque Ball. However, the each feared what the other had in store for them, costume wise.


	5. Intoxicated

**A/N:** This chapter was co written with toxical and my friend Brooke who gave us the character Jesse. Now, I present you with dunk!Draco, sober!Harry, and one very squicked out auror.

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A little more than two weeks since his talk with Katie did he receive an owl from his mother. It was an article from the Daily Prophet. There had been a breakout in Azkaban and his father had gotten away. At first Draco had grimaced, it wasn't so bad. That was until he received his second owl, two days later, this time it was from none other than his father. Draco was to get the Dark Mark shortly after Halloween.

Like any sensible Malfoy, Draco didn't do what was expected of him. Instead, while his housemates were all off to lunch, he had stayed behind. He tore about the entire sixth year boys dormitory, everything but his stuff. Book pages were flying around the room, feathers from pillows were falling slowly to the ground. Lastly, Draco took to the adjoined bathroom, taking out his anger on the mirror.

He didn't remember what he had throw at it, but the sound of breaking glass was comfort, even has he stepped on the shards, cutting his bare feet. He didn't notice. He picked up a jagged piece of the mirror, and threw it against the wall. Draco did all of this repeatedly, his hands, by the end, cut up and bloodied just as his feet. He hadn't noticed the pain.

When he had finally come to his senses, the sting of the cuts on both his hands and his feet were unwelcome, and he cast a quick healing charm on them before looking at his hands in awe. Dry blood was caked around the hastily heeled cuts. They didn't look like his hands anymore.

----

Draco looked at his watch, but he couldn't tell the time, his eyes unfocused. All he knew, in his jumbled up state, was that this was a stupid hour to be up, and that it was passed curfew. And quite frankly, he didn't care. He didn't care if he ran into a Professor. He didn't care, at the moment, whether he was if he was stark naked walking through the halls (thankfully, he was fully clothed.) It didn't stop him from being completely lacquered, and getting more so by the minute.

In fact, in his hand was a bottle of beer. Muggle beer, to be exact. How he got it, Draco couldn't remember, but when he thought really hard, he could see galleons being passed back and forth, and him lugging away a cardboard (something Draco had found fascinating after about a beer) case away. He didn't know why he'd bought it from the faceless muggleborn, except that the feeling was absolutely delightful, once you got passed the first one. Needless to say, Draco had absolutely no alcohol tolerance what so ever. By the first one, he was giggly. In fact, the one that Draco held in his hand was only his fourth. But of course, Malfoy's only drank the priciest of wine, and rarely finished a glass.

Perhaps the whole buying muggle beer thing was one last act of defiance against his father and his name, and what Draco would have to go through the next night. It was less than twenty-four hours away, after all. But the numbing sensation that the alcohol had on Draco was more than enough for him to forget about the dreaded task at hand. Instead, he thought about trivial meaningless things that randomly popped into his head. Like how he suddenly wanted to be having this beer with someone, and not in the complete dark of the corridors, with only the waning moon for company. Yes, in his drunken state, Draco was feeling rather - corny.

What was worse (or at least, Draco would've thought so, had he been sober) was that he was walking around grinning like an idiot. He couldn't explain it, but he felt like he was walking on large fluffy clouds. Draco stopped as he thought he spotted someone walking along the row of windows outside. He only realized that he wasn't supposed to be out this late just in time to duck out of view (of which almost landed on his rear end from moving too fast). But as soon as the person had past, Draco looked out the window, and could help but snigger to himself when he decided that, whoever it was (obviously male - and he suspected it was an Auror) had a very nice arse.

Every so often he'd clink the beer bottle against the stone wall, just to hear the clink echo. Even in his intoxicated state, Draco couldn't help but grip the bottle tighter as he pressed on through the corridors that lacked windows, and therefore, lacked any light what so-ever. What was worse, is that he'd been daft enough to not bring his wand with him. "Idiot, that are you," Draco slurred to the darkness, and he thought he heard one of the portraits giggle. "What? Like you've never been -" Draco paused, finger on his lip, trying to think of what it was that had Draco like this. "Right - Like you've never been drunk."

"We haven't," commented a female portrait.

"We're paintings," growled a male voice.

Draco snorted, more at himself then anything. "Too bad for you then," his words were hardly intelligible at this point. With everything out of focus, Draco dearly wished that he had a light, as he fumbled his way through the dark. He began to hum - or rather, his throat was vibrating deep in his throat - a tune that he'd once heard his mother playing on a record in her room. It was the first and last fond memory Draco had of his mother. He had been walking past his parents room, and peeked in for a look to see what the noise was about, just to see his mother dancing merrily by herself. He didn't know what it was, and it wasn't the tune that Draco liked about the song. What he didn't know was that it was a seventies muggle song, Sugar Sugar by the Archies. It probably would've horrified a sober Draco to know exactly what it was he was humming.

Absentmindedly he swigged almost half the contents of the bottle down, twirling like a fool around a corner and running straight into somebody. He would've froze, completely closed up, at being caught doing such a juvenile act, if he were sober Draco. But he wasn't sober Draco, he was completely pissed out of his mind Draco, and instead he grabbed whoever it was' shoulders to steady himself, bursting into a fit of laughter. Drunken laughter, but laughter nonetheless. It might have been disturbing for some to know, that Draco Malfoy's laugh, when it was honest, was actually quite pleasant.

"Hullo," he said, looking up into the blurred face of whoever it was that he'd run into It wasn't a Professor, that he was sure of, but he couldn't contain himself as he burst into another gale of laughter.

-----

Harry had been walking around the corridors at the late hour, having not been able to sleep. He had left the boys dormitory saying that he would only be down in the common room, where he stayed for all of twenty minutes. Something in the back of his mind just kept him up. It wasn't any strange feeling, or his scar, for once he just couldn't sleep was that so wrong? So here he was, wandering around the dark halls of the school, wearing a simple blue shirt and baggy jeans, which at one point had been his cousins. He didn't care if he was caught at the moment, what was a few house points?

Okay, so maybe he did care. Auror's were running around the school now, making Harry feel like a locked up bird, with people just watching him. He was sure that if he got caught, he wouldn't hear the end of it. One person would have their rant session with him, which he guessed would last all of twenty minutes before someone new stepped in to have at him. And not to mention the Order members. Merlin, if he was caught they might just lock him up in a room somewhere, putting bars on his windows, and hold onto his wand for him. Okay, so maybe that was a bit much, but he didn't doubt that could very well happen.

Quickly ducking into a near by nook, Harry watch with wary eyes as an Auror passed by. He exhaled slowly. Yeah, he didn't want to be caught. Not only would he get into trouble with Professors, Aurors, and probably Order members, but with his house mates. Groaning inwardly Harry noticed that he suddenly had to take a leak. Trying to think of where he was, he headed off for the nearest bathroom, which he found with in five minutes. Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go. And he wasn't about to piss on the floor. It just wasn't right.

Zipping up his pants he left the loo, continuing on his way down the corridor, his hands placed lazily into his pockets. His eyes wide open, not a trace of sleepiness shone in the green orbs. Quickly, he threw himself against what he thought was a wall, but as it was, it turned out to be a suit of armor. He groaned as he heard a metal clank hit the stone floor. Surely someone would have heard that, and he was expecting to be over run by Aurors very soon.

But he heard a sort of soft clank, like the sound of glass lightly hitting something.

**_"Right - Like you've never been drunk." _**

"We haven't."

"We're paintings."

Harry blinked. Two of the three voices were portraits, but the first he didn't know, or rather couldn't make out. The voice had sounded familiar enough, even if slurred. He couldn't put his finger on it. Who the ruddy hell was that, Harry knew that he knew the person, he just had to. But who was it? Honestly Potter, it's not that hard! he scolded himself as he hoisted himself away from the suit of armor and around the corner. And that's when it happened.

Someone had run straight into him, seemingly taking ahold of his shoulders for balance, and abruptly busted out in a fit of laughter. Harry's eyebrow instantly shot up as he groan inwardly. He was going to be caught now, he just knew it. How could he not? Whoever this idiot was, wasn't about to stop laughing for the life of him, it seemed.

**_"Hullo." _**

Harry's face paled. No way, it couldn't be, yeah he knew that voice, but even in the dark he could only see an out line of the person, and was just barely able to make out any facial features. One thing was for sure, the person smelt badly of alcohol. Malfoy smelt badly of alcohol. Again, the boy inwardly groaned.

"Malfoy?" Harry said, not believing it was really that blonde haird prat who had a hold of his shoulders, clealy pissed. God, if things like that only happened everyday, he caught himself thinking and instantly pushed that aside. Had he really just thought that? He really was loosing it.

"Oh, it's you," Draco said, upon realizing that it was the famous Boy Who Lived. The grin didn't leave his face though, and between words he was snickering. He put the beer bottle to his lips and drank what was left in it, before dropping it to the ground with a loud smash. He could hardly care if anyone heard it. And no doubt somebody did. Leaving one hand on Harry's shoulder, he pulled out two more bottles out of his pocket, shrunken to fit. He fumbled with his wand before tapping the bottles. They shrunk again, now smaller than his thumb and he cursed before tapping them again. This time they enlargened, back to their proper size.

Harry rolled his eyes. Oh yeah, it was him alright. He loved that answer. 'Oh, it's you'. Out of the corner of his eyes he watched as Draco put the bottle to his lips, clearly finishing it off, and then proceeding to drop it to the floor. The sound of shattering glass got a hold of his attention, and for a moment he just stared at the shards of glass. And for that moment, he didn't care if someone had even heard that.

"Here," He shoved one of the beer bottles into Harry's hand. "Enjoy." Draco would've been horrified to know that at this, he giggled. Like a girl.

"Er, right," he muttered. Strange, here he was holding a bottle of beer in his hands, but he couldn't feel it. Yeah, sure he wanted a drink but wasn't about to risk getting caught piss drunk like the blonde haired boy who at the moment was using him as support. What just about made Harry burst out laughing was the fact that Draco had giggled. Honestly, you'd think that he was some giddy git. Thus, another reason Harry chose not to drink. Besides, he had a higher alcohol tolerance. The bottle was tempting however.

Draco snorted, staring at Harry through misty eyes, unfocused and yet all the same it was as though he were seeing the world in a different light, like someone had ripped the blindfold off his eyes. He couldn't help but notice Harry seemed a bit uptight, though the reason, Draco couldn't fathom at this precise moment. "You're bloody uptight, Potter. I can never understand why," Draco said, patting Harry's shoulder with the hand that was wrapped around his shoulders. Obviously that all hate for the Gryffindor had been washed away by alcohol.

Harry snorted. Of course he was uptight. Why wouldn't he be, was there some new rule saying that he shouldn't be, besides, he was always like that, no matter what. Even around his best of friends. "Of course I'm bloody uptight. I have my reasons, too." Reasons, HA! That was a good one, Harry have reasons for being uptight? He could only blinks as Draco patted his shoulder.

Draco snorted, but didn't comment on it. Which was probably a good thing, because he'd regret it largely when he was sober. Actually, it probably wouldn't have mattered, as he was probably going to regret and deny the whole drinking thing had happened at all. After all, Malfoy's weren't supposed to get drunk. Or at least, get drunk and act like a complete and utter fool, which was exactly what Draco was doing.

He was now practically leaning on Harry, and if he surely stepped away, Draco would've gone crashing to the ground. "You know, Potter," his words were horribly slurred, and hardly intelligible. "I never would have p-pinned you for midnight galavering... galavernting... gallivanting! That's it," he said, before bursting into another fit of laughter.

At that the raven haired boy groaned, just barely able to make out what the blonde had said. Who didn't know that Harry was almost always wandering around? Well, normally he would have stayed in the common room on a night like this, but he didn't, and he was now wishing that he had. Oh if he only had a brain. Muttering to himself he shook his head. "Never would have pinned you as a drunk," he mused. Actually, the thought had crossed him quite a few times.

"Ha! You know nothing," Draco slurred, a grin plastered on his face. "I pity you, Harry, really I do," he said, practically humming while he talked. "Gryffindors," he announced, holding the bottle to his chest as though he were about to make a speech. "Are cursed with knowing everything," he paused, before shaking his head. "Nothing. I mean nothing," his grammar was horrible, his speech slurred, and he was confusing words. It was a horrible state, but amusing none the less. Draco reached over and went to pop the cap off his own beer, so he was practically hugging Harry's neck without knowing.

Draco, with all his intoxicated thoughts, couldn't help thinking that Harry looked incredibly sexy as he did. But then, he probably would've thought an over-weight pug dog would've been sexy. He snorted, before taking another large gulp of beer. "Harry," he started, looking quite thoughtful. "Have you ever wondered what it would be like to actually think a girl was hot?" he laughed as though this was the most ludicrous thing, and then, he stopped suddenly and looked at Harry. "Oh right, you're -" he gulped down more beer. "St - straight, aren't you? Ha! Too bad for you then," this was the second time he said that this evening, and he was feeling as though he were the luckiest person in the world, which he very well wasn't.

Harry blinked. Did Draco just confess that he was gay? Oh he could have started laughing right there, if it weren't for one thing – he'd never actually thought a girl was hot. Sure, he'd thought one was cute at one time, but never really feeling anything himself. Popping off the cap to the beer, Harry put it to his lips just before saying, "Yeah, too bad for me then," and took one long drink, letting Draco's words sink in, and forcing his own thoughts from his head.

"Mm," Draco nodded in agreement, before taking a long gulp of beer, tipping his head back, which almost caused him to fall backwards, but he grabbed a fist full of Harry's robes to keep him steady. "S'good thing you're here," he laughed, his fist still bunched in Harry's robes. "Drinking alone is so boring."

"That and you'd probably have fallen on your arse by now, and wouldn't have been able to get up, either, eh?" Harry said, cocking an eyebrow. "Dunno about you, mate, but I'd rather drink alone." Now, he just rolled his shoulders slightly. Well, he'd only liked to drink alone because that's what he was used to doing after all.

Draco laughed. At himself. Which was an amazement all in itself. Draco never laughed at himself. "Ha!" he said, as though he were indignant about it, but then he spoke again, with a snort, "Yeah, probably. Of which," at this point, he shoved one of his slender fingers into Harry's chest. "I thank you for. And I, Draco," he intentionally left off his last name. "Never thank anybody. After all, I'm supposed to be a cold hearted bastard." There wasn't a single amount of resentment in his voice, in fact, he looked particularly giddy about the whole thing.

He then proceeded to sling an arm around Harry's neck, as though they were best of friends, despite the fact that he was practically using Harry to support his dead weight. He then began to walk forward, the way he'd come, but found himself stumbling over his own feet, so he stopped trying. "You know," he continued to talk, as though he enjoyed the sound of his own slurred voice. "This muggle drink is great stuff, in'it?"

"Beer," He pointed out. "Beer, Malfoy, it has a name," Harry took a moment to look at at his shoulder as Draco slung his arm around him. The boy needed help, badly. Shaking his head, he put the bottle to his own lips once more, taking another drink. "And I've had better," he muttered into the bottle.

"Better? There's stuff better than this?" Draco said, amazement on his features. "Maybe them muggles aren't so stupid after all," then his brow furrowed in thought, and for an astonishing minute, he was completely silent, no humming, no giggling or laughing. He was completely an utterly silent.

The raven haired boy snorted. He knew he probably shouldn't have said anything. But what was said was said after all, and there was no way to go back and change that. No way to go back and change that? Oh that thought just made him smirk, and as the word time turner popped into his head, he almost started laughing himself. "Yah, amazing, ain't it?"

And then Draco began to hum again. That old Sugar Sugar tune again. "We need music," he commented, before humming again, finishing off his fifth bottle of beer and his last, unfortunately, as he'd given up his sixth to Harry. He dropped this one to the ground, with broke into pieces, the small amount of remaining beer spilling on the floor. And then he heard it, but he didn't care really. Running footsteps coming their way. Someone had heard it. Probably a Professor, but Draco certainly didn't care. He just kept humming.

Shattering glass, humming, foot steps. No, Harry wasn't about to get his arse caught, not at the moment. Not tonight, not with the drunken ferret. There was just no way. Taking a quick swig of beer he shoved the bottle into Draco's hands before starting to move around the corner to the nook. Getting the blonde in the nook first, Harry stood in front of him. Moments later it had been a Professor and an Auror that came.

Draco was then dragged over to a secluded spot, he was just about to speak, very loudly, before he realized they were hiding and clapped a hand over his mouth, trying very hard to suppress a fit of giggles. It was rather pathetic, really. And then he grinned mischievously, noting that Potter was in front of him, hiding them from view. He then wrapped his arms around the other boy's neck from behind, reaching forward and grabbing Harry's t-shirt, snickering in the Gryffindor's ear, his breath thick with the stench of alcohol.

The professor and the auror talked for only a moment before cleaning off the floor, riding it of the glass and little beer there was. When they'd finally gone, Harry stepped out making sure they were ear shot, turning back to Draco he said rather bluntly, "You need to stop dropping those bottles."

When Harry turned around, Draco let go of his shirt, but kept his arms around the other boy's neck. "Breaking gl - glass, Potter, is fun," he said with a grin, before pulling his hands back and showed off his hands. From that afternoon, there were now scars, but some of the cuts were still there. The white scar-tissue was thick around the cuts, showing that they had been hastily healed by magic sometime that day. "S'very good way of getting rid of anger," he nodded.

The thick sent of alcohol on the other boys breath was enough to send shivers down Harry's spine, and make him weak in the knees. He wasn't exactly sure what it was about the sent of alcohol, but it always had a way of making his mind reel.

Now, they were facing each other. Oh could this get any worse? Inwardly, Harry groaned.

"And you call me mental," Harry pointed out, raising an eyebrow slightly, looking at the scars. Oddly enough, he hadn't been bothered when he had Draco's arms around his neck. Either he was completely loosing his mind or… well, he didn't want to even think about that one.

Again, Draco shrugged. "I said you were mental, but I don't think it," he said honestly. Hell was freezing over, surely. He grinned mischievously. If he had been sober, and this had been somebody completely different, he might have been sympathetic for Harry. After all, he was stuck in close quarters, likely straight (though he hadn't admitted it), with a very blatantly gay Slytherin. Realizing he had a beer in his hand (Harry's, but that didn't matter.) Draco took a large swig of it, before giving it back to the raven-haired boy.

Harry blinked. Hell was indeed freezing over. He'd heard it in the boys slurred voice, but couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was mind numbing to hear that come from the Slytherin boys mouth. He saw the grin on the boys face, and just had to wonder what was going on in his, oh, this would be one night his friends would never hear about – ever. No matter how much it bugged him to keep it locked up, hell he'd deny this night had happened himself.

Oddly enough, he took back the bottle and took a swig of it himself, very glad indeed to have a rather high alcohol tolerance. It would take a lot for him to get drunk, and he would need more than just beer, but he wasn't going to let that slip. No, he wasn't that insane.

"You know," Draco slurred, leaning heavily against a wall. He tilted his head to the side, studying Harry through clouded eyes, blonde hair falling slightly in front of his eyes, which he didn't bother to brush aside. "You're dead sexy in this lighting," he said, and though he was still a bit giddy, he sounded completely serious about it. And what Harry didn't know (or maybe he did) was that Draco was honestly being truthful. Again that mischievous look came to Draco's face, and he grinned, a full out grin that sparkled in his otherwise cloudy eyes.

It was so sudden that Draco didn't give Harry a chance to move or suspect a thing. Grabbing hold of Harry's t-shirt, bunching his fists up in it, and pulled Harry towards him in which he practically threw himself on him. He pressed his lips firmly against the other boy's, in a rather messy kiss, completely unaware that this was his enemy, everything he stood against, and the fact that the other boy was probably straight.

Merlin, Harry thought. He'd opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but ended up closing it only half way, not finding the words he was looking for. For a moment he just stood there, the beer bottle in his left hand, as both his arms fell limply at his sides. Did Draco Malfoy just say what he thought he said? He hadn't expected that, nor did he expect what came next.

Draco had grabbed a hold of Harry's shirt, pulling him forward, if you will, and firmly pressed his lips against his. Now, Harry was still in shock of what he had said, and by the time that had passed he was just now realizing what had happened. He was being kissed by Draco. The smell of alcohol was stronger now than it had been when he had his arms wrapped around him, and Harry could help but to let a soft groan escape from his own lips, adding more to the smell of alcohol. And who had just kissed him?

----

_**"Damned kids gallivanting around!" **_

Jesse rolled his eyes as he roamed down the halls, his mind on what Gabriel had said only moments before when the older man had come up to Jess with an empty bottle of what looked like some form of liquor in his hands.

Now, Jesse used to be one of these "gallivanting" kids back in his Hogwarts years so he had chuckled at what Gabe had told him. It brought back fond memories of when he and a couple of his buddies used to sneak liquor into Hogwarts, once getting caught by Snape himself! It was memories like those that put a smile on his face.

But sadly it was short lived. Now it was Jesse's turn to roam the castle, as Gabriel had gone off to bed for the night. Roaming around the castle at ten past midnight wasn't all that fun. Nothing exciting ever happened except for the rare chance of a student out after hours, and that was always pretty boring, too!

So when Jesse heard the sound of glass shatter, he almost jumped for joy! Finally, something interesting! He could possibly get whomever it was who had the liquor to give him a bottle in exchange for not telling that the student (or students) were drinking, and out after hours! I mean, it's not like anything bad was going to happen tonight, right? And besides Jess, and the student making all of the noise, no one would know he had been drinking. No one else was up!

So the man walked briskly down the corridor, following where the sound had come from. It didn't take too long to find, and after seeing what he did, Jesse wished he hadn't heard the noise in the first place!

Right before his eyes, Jesse saw two boys kissing! One he noticed, right off the bat! Harry Potter. The other, blonde haired one, he didn't notice as the boy was blocked by Potter.

Blinking once, and then twice, and then three times he cleared his throat loud enough for them to hear. "...You two! You...aren't supposed to be out here at this time of night!" He said, trying to sound stern. Of course, he sounded more like someone completely weirded out by what he had just seen!

----

Even in his drunken state, Draco couldn't help but grin slightly as he heard Harry groan. Ha! He wasn't even thinking about letting go, either. After all, he was drunk, he hardly knew what he was doing, and probably wouldn't even remember in the morning. Which was a very good thing. Because, of course, he would've been horrified to recall such a thing in a sober state. He would've pushed Harry against a wall, too, except Harry wasn't facing a direction so there was a wall behind him. And in any case, Draco probably would've fallen, as he could hardly remember how to move his legs properly.

Draco heard Harry drop the bottle of beer, but didn't much care as it broke. Who was breaking bottles now, hmm? Draco snickered, he couldn't contain himself. He could hear someone rushing down the hall, but he was far too into this to care very much. What? He was drunk wasn't he?

"**...You two! You...aren't supposed to be out here at this time of night!" **

Draco groaned. So much for that plan. Or, what little plan there was. He couldn't see who it was that was yelling at them. Pulling away from Harry, he peered around him to see who it was. And this caused Draco to be victim to another fit of giggles. It was the owner of the cute tush! After Draco had regained his composure (or what little of it was still left to him), he cleared his throat.

Harry himself groaned at that, and he was the sober one, though it didn't feel like he was anymore. Hell must have froze over, too many things had happened today, and this well, this just blew them all away. Really, it did, don't ask how, that much is quite clear. When Draco had pulled away to peer over his shoulder to see who had said that, Harry took this moment to attempt to clear his mind of the sent of alcohol.

Also while he had the chance he had attempted to close his mouth just a little more than it already was, seen as it was half way open. One thing was for sure, he sure as hell didn't feel sober. He felt drunk.

"If you don't mind," he slurred, his words, still, were hardly intelligible. "We're kind of busy." And as though to prove himself, he pressed his lips against Harry's again, this time a bit more fiercely.

Why was that always happening? Though Harry should have expected that he'd have been kissed again. He let out another low groan. Damn that smell of alcohol of Malfoy's breath, that just had to be the only reason he didn't resist. It had to be. Unless. It hit him, and another low groan escaped from him. Bugger, he thought. I'm gay.

When the blonde peered over Potter, Jesse was very shocked to see Draco Malfoy of all people looking drunkenly up at him. Jesse had to fight to keep from cringing, and pull Potter loose of the other. It was like he had been pulled into the twilight zone, or something! This was just a dream. A sick, twisted dream! No! Nightmare, even!

Jesse was absolutely disgusted at this point. Not only had he walked up to Malfoy, and Potter kissing, but now the blonde git was kissing the damned boy again! This was something Jesse did not want to see in the lest! No! So what did he do?

He grabbed the dark haired boys shoulder roughly, and pulled the two apart; a mixed expression of anger, shock, and disgust on his face. "Look, unless you two are looking to get into shitloads of trouble I'd suggest continuing this elsewhere!" He hissed, realizing at the moment he sounded a bit like Gabe. Was Gabriel rubbing off on him?

EW! RUBBING!

Quickly, Jesse discarded the thought, and reminded himself he had something to take care of. Looking down at Malfoy, he narrowed his eyes on the boy. "Jesus! Get a fucking room, would you?" He practically yelled at the two, grabbing the bottle as he let go of Harry's shoulder, and walked off down the corridor, never looking back.

He could only hope the next time he was forced to roam the halls he would never again see the sights he had just witnessed tonight!

Harry groaned again, and Draco smirked against the other boy's mouth. He was just getting into it too (again…) when that damn Auror pulled Harry roughly away from him. He almost had half a mind (actually, in this state, he didn't have any mind) to pout, but instead licked his lips, and grinned.

Harry wasn't sure if he should be thankful that the Auror pull him away. What he had just confirmed with himself horrified him, greatly. But beging jerked back like that somehow managed to pull him back into reality and out of his twisted thoughts, which was just about the only reason he hadn't done a thing, had he not been thinking, he would have done something. Though what he would have done, he didn't know.

Draco was only slightly surprised. After all, the Auror finding them there could've gotten them into enough trouble by marching them to a Professor, to take away a million house points just for being out, and then a million more for Draco being drunk.

Draco's smirk broadened. "Good plan, we'll do that right away," he said with a lazy wink. He couldn't help snickering with laughter. It was good that one of them were finding this amusing. He grinned when the man began to walk away. He stumbled around Harry, and leaned on the wall.

Harry couldn't help not smirking as he turned around to face the Auror himself. Hold on, why was he smirking anyway? Oh hell, he didn't know. He knew now that he was gay as well, but well, he just wasn't coming to terms with it. He might as well have blamed this on his own lack of a proper childhood, it was the only thing that seemed to fit really, and his own answer.

"Nice arse!" he called out, before whistling, and then dissolving into a fit of laughter, clutching his sides that were now aching, his cheeks hurting. He didn't think he'd laughed so much in his entire existence. He was absolutely loving this beer stuff. Of course, that would disappear as soon as he woke up, or ended up throwing up.

Harry snorted, walking around Draco, moving to lean against the wall the blonde had been closest to, and lean against it he did. He watched the Auror walk off. Nice arse indeed. Oh, Merlin! Mentally Harry kicked himself, there he went again. God, he blamed Draco for this, really, he did. On some level anyway.

Draco turned back to Harry, still laughing slightly.

"Where were we?"

"I'm bloody gay," Harry muttered, starting to laugh himself. God, now he wished he was drunk, that way he could just wash this all away for the time being. "Bloody hell," after that, the boy went into a small fit of laughter. And then he realized something else. Now he was leaning against a wall, groaning inwardly the only thing out of his mouth was, "Fuck."

Draco snorted in laughter at the poor boy. "And," Draco started. The drink was starting to wear off after all that laughing, and there was a dull ache beginning in the back of his neck. "Pray tell, what is so wrong with that? Except that there aren't any other gays around here, except me," Draco grinned. He was probably just making this worse for Harry, but he could hardly care. "Which is perfectly fine with me."

And with that, Draco walked (albeit a bit clumsily) towards Harry, until they were but a breath away from each other. He reached up and took Harry's glasses off, before pinning Harry against the wall and kissing him again. This time the kiss wasn't half as sloppy as the previous two, surprising coming from the drunk. Draco groaned for a moment and pulled back.

"I hate you," He said, almost in a hiss. Which was surprising, considering his previous giggly mood. "Your fucking gorgeous and I hate you for it," and with that he planted another one on Harry.

They stayed like that; Harry against the wall, pinned by Draco, and connected at the mouth. There was absolutely no telling how long they had stood there, or how long it had been since Draco had 'gotten into' the kiss. The fact that alcohol was wearing off only seem to improve the kiss, on Draco's end as Harry just continued to stand there in mild shock, still. That wasn't to say that Harry didn't kiss him back, it was just weakly.

When the two of them had finally pulled apart it was because they both had enough sense to hear the sound of foot steps coming quickly their way. While Harry backed as best he could further onto the wall, Draco just picked a spot beside him, and slid to the ground in a fit of sniggers. He couldn't stop himself. Better sniggering then giggling like a mad man - no like a girl. The thought actually brought him to a round of giggles before the source of the steps came into view, and the sharp in take of breath sounded around them.

"You shouldn't be up," Draco slurred, looking up at the certain Ravenclaw girl who was just three feet in front of the boys. He sniggered again before his head lolled to the side and he was looking lazily up at Harry. "Potter," he sniggered, "this is my c-cousin Kathryn Lestrange."

Katie, the apparent person to have stumbled across the two boys held a gaze with Harry before breaking it to look at Draco. She shook her head. "You're a bloody git," Katie snapped before kneeling down in front of Draco, getting a good look at him. Then she caught the sent of alcohol. "You're drunk!" She hissed, swatting the boy on the head. Draco recoiled hissing in pain.

"Right," Harry said, finally able to get a word in, or rather, once he had regained his voice. "I think I'll just be…Y'know, off - back to my common room, where I plan on - sleeping."

There were identical snickering from both Draco and Katie before the girl just shook her head again and gave a faint, "Right, and I'll see this one back to his common room."

It was left exactly at that. Harry had all but darted back down the direction of the Gryffindor Tower and Katie was left to pull her cousin to his feet before making what would be a very long trip to the dungeons.

"Why are you up?" Slurred words.

"Don't worry about it." A snappy reply.

"…Your robes are mussed."

"Shut up, Draco!"

Smack.

"Bloody bint."

Another smack followed by a snicker.

"All right, all right. I get the point you bloody bird!"


End file.
